Do
Your Potential Customers Forget About You?
Tom Kulzer
Your web business probably
gets product inquiries from potential customers around the globe. Inquiries come via
e-mail and your web site, and you try to send information to each hot prospect as quickly
as you can. You know that you can drastically increase the likelihood of making a sale by
satisfying each person's need for information quickly!
But, after you've delivered that first bit of information to your prospect, do you send
him any further information?
If you are like most Internet marketers, you don't.
When you don't follow that initial message with additional information later on, you
let a valuable prospect slip from your grasp! This is a potential customer who may have
been very interested in your products, but who lost your contact information, or was too
busy to make a purchase when your first message reached him. Often, a prospect will
purposely put off making a purchase, to see if you find him important enough to follow up
with later. When he doesn't receive a follow up message from you, he will take his
business elsewhere.
Are
you losing profits due to inconsistent and ineffective follow up?
Following up with leads is
more than just a process - it's an art. In order to be effective, you need to design a
follow up system, and stick to it, EVERY DAY! If you don't follow up with your prospects
consistently, INDIVIDUALLY, and in a timely fashion, then you might as well forget the
whole follow up process.
Consistent
follow up gets results!
When I first started
marketing and following up with prospects, I used a follow up method that I now call the
"List Technique." I had a large database containing the names and e-mail
addresses of people who had specifically requested information about my products and
services. These prospects had already received my first letter by the time they requested
more information, so I used the company's latest news as a follow up piece. I would write
follow up newsletters every now and then, and send them, in one mass mailing, to everyone
who had previously requested information from me. While this probably did help me win a
few additional orders, it wasn't a very good follow up method. Why isn't the "List
Technique" very effective?
- The List Technique isn't consistent. Proponents of the List Technique tend to only send
out follow up messages when their companies have "big news".
- List Technique messages don't give the potential customer any additional information
about the product or service in question. He can't make a more informed buying decision
after receiving a newsletter! If someone is wondering whether your company sells the best
knick-knacks, what does he care that you've just moved your headquarters?
- List Technique messages convey a "big list" mentality to your potential
customers. When I used to write follow up messages using the List Technique, I was writing
news bulletins to everyone I knew! I should have been sending a personal message to each
individual who wanted to know more about my products.
What
follow up method really works?
Following up with each lead
individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will
dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all
at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though,
you need to do some planning.
First, you'll need to develop your follow up messages. If you've been marketing on the
Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter.
Your second letter marks the beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more
detail than the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn't have the space
to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or services!
Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include lists of the benefits
and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects
can skim the contents, and still see the full force of your message.
The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of urgency in your
prospect's mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting
any longer. After reading these follow up messages, your prospect should want to order
immediately!
Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in the form of a question. Ask your
prospect why he hasn't yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the
price is to high, the product isn't the right color or doesn't have the right features, or
if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it's unlikely that this
person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow up
letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)
The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their content. You don't
want one prospect to receive a follow up the day after he gets your initial informative
letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow up!
Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send the
first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want your hot prospects to have information
quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!
Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart. Your prospect is still
hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about the benefits of your products
and services, as opposed to your competitors'. You will make the sale!
Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly don't want to annoy your
prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least 4 days apart.
Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn't have to be! So many
potential customers are lost because of poor follow up - don't you want to be one of the
few to get it right?
Tom Kulzer is the President and CEO of AWeber Communications.
Less Work - More Sales. http://www.aweber.com
Reprinted with permission
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